With the holidays upon us, some of us will be struggling to get through the season without gaining weight—I know it’s always a challenge for me. But it turns out that human fat might be a great source of stem cells, with possible applications in nerve and spinal cord repair, bone regeneration in children, and maybe even cures for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

Please join us on Monday, December 5th at 7:00 p.m. at the Penn Brewery as Dr. Kacey Marra speaks to us on the topic of “Liposuction: A New Source of Stem Cells.” Dr. Marra is Director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory and an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh.Come and learn what her research is revealing about the prospects of healing cells coming from human fat tissue.It’s sure to be an interesting talk and discussion!

In keeping with the holiday spirit, we’ll be giving away some books based on topics we have covered recently at Café Sci, as well as some six packs of Penn Brewery’s fantastic Christmas beer, St. Nicholas Bock. We hope you can make it to the festivities and go home a winner. It is our way of saying thank you for making our monthly meetings such a success.

"Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." Cree Indian Prophecy